Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

near-death experience

(Encyclopedia)near-death experience, phenomenon reported by some people who have been clinically dead, then returned to life. Descriptions of the experience differ slightly in detail from person to person, but usua...

Leo IV, Saint, pope

(Encyclopedia)Leo IV, Saint, d. 855, pope (847–55), a Roman; successor of Sergius II. He had seen the Saracen attack on Rome (846), and to prevent its recurrence he fortified the city and its suburbs. He built a ...

Masbate

(Encyclopedia)Masbate mäsbäˈtā [key], island, 1,262 sq mi (3,269 sq km), the Philippines, one of the Visayan Islands, S of SE Luzon. Gold, which has been mined there for centuries, is still produced in quantity...

Schuylkill

(Encyclopedia)Schuylkill sko͞olˈkĭlˌ, sko͞oˈkəl [key] [Du.,=hidden creek], river, c.130 mi (210 km) long, rising in Schuylkill co., E central Pa. and flowing generally SE to the Delaware River at Philadelphi...

Bartlett, John

(Encyclopedia)Bartlett, John, 1820–1905, American compiler and publisher, b. Plymouth, Mass. While he worked in his university book store in Cambridge, he compiled the invaluable Familiar Quotations (1855), which...

Corning

(Encyclopedia)Corning, city (2020 pop. 10,551), Steuben co., S N.Y., on the Chemung River, in a dairy and vineyard region; settled 1788, inc. as a city 1890. The glas...

Cushing, Luther Stearns

(Encyclopedia)Cushing, Luther Stearns, 1803–56, American lawyer, b. Lunenburg, Mass., grad. Harvard Law School, 1826. His best-known work is his short Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1844; many later editions),...

Delémont

(Encyclopedia)Delémont dəlāmôNˈ [key], Ger. Delsberg, town, capital of Jura canton, NW Switzerland. A ...

prehistory

(Encyclopedia)prehistory, period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some reco...

hourglass

(Encyclopedia)hourglass, glass instrument for measuring time, usually consisting of two bulbs united by a narrow neck. One bulb is filled with fine sand that runs through the neck into the other bulb in an hour's t...